{"id":9031,"date":"2021-04-15T07:32:18","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T12:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=9031"},"modified":"2021-04-14T11:34:33","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T16:34:33","slug":"3-critical-behaviors-of-good-listeners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/3-critical-behaviors-of-good-listeners\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Critical Behaviors of Good Listeners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Humans instinctively want to share their experiences.\u00a0 The more experienced a person, the fuller they are with ideas.<\/p>\n

Many people view Listening Skills to be of lesser consequence than articulation and focus on learning how they can present their own views more effectively.<\/p>\n

Good listening\u2014the keen and orderly pursuit of probing and challenging the information collected from others to enhance its quality and quantity\u2014is key to developing a knowledge-base that creates new insights and ideas.<\/p>\n

Listening is unquestionably the most efficient route to making informed judgments, particularly judgments that leaders have to make.\u00a0 That is why the Soft Skill of Good Listening<\/a> is considered a building block of Leadership Development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Good listening can lead to a longer and fruitful relationship at work and elsewhere.\u00a0 Exceptional Client Management<\/a> and Team Management<\/a>, especially, and a host of other situations demand Good Listening skills. \u00a0Respecting the speaker, even if there is disagreement and reacting in the moment without expectation is part and parcel of Good Listening Skills.\u00a0 The speaker should feel respected and understood after having a conversation with a Good Listener.<\/p>\n

People possessing Good Listening ability assume a somewhat passive speaking role in the conversation yet actively participate in the conversation using\u00a0body language\u00a0and follow-up questions.\u00a0 They display 3 Critical Behaviors that make them what they are\u2014Great Listeners:<\/p>\n

Demonstrate Respect<\/strong><\/p>\n

Making the speaker feel that what they are saying is important.\u00a0 This feeling gets reciprocated quickly.<\/p>\n

Remain Quiet<\/strong><\/p>\n

One cannot really listen while busy talking.\u00a0 Remaining quiet enables understanding of the actual point the other person is making.<\/p>\n

Challenge Assumptions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good Listeners seek the underlying assumption in the conversation and challenge it.\u00a0 This generates new ideas and opens up paths untrodden.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let us look a little more deeply into some of the key characteristics of the 3 Critical Behaviors of Good Listeners.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Demonstrate Respect<\/strong><\/h2>\n

People displaying a Problem Solving Mindset<\/a> solicit input from all levels and demonstrate respect in this manner.\u00a0 They always make the speakers feel that they have something exclusive to contribute and assume that the conversation partner has the proficiency to develop worthy solutions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remain Quiet<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In a good conversation, the conversation partner speaks 80% of the time and the Ideal Listener speaks 20% of the time.\u00a0 A Good Listener poses questions in most of the 20% time.\u00a0 By remaining quiet the listener\u2019s objective is to extract the prime motivation or thought behind the conversation. \u00a0Patience and practice are needed to cultivate the habit of weighing in at the correct moment.<\/p>\n

Challenge Assumptions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A Good Listener challenges long-held and valued assumptions in order to make gains from conversations.\u00a0 Ambiguity is embraced and a quest to uncover what both conversation partners can gain from the conversation is enlivened.<\/p>\n

From the above 3 Critical Behaviors, we can synthesize the following 13 actions that a Good Listener should make while in an active conversation:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Be fully present.<\/li>\n
  2. Do not listen to respond.<\/li>\n
  3. React in the moment.<\/li>\n
  4. Do not have an agenda.<\/li>\n
  5. Do not jump to give\u00a0advice.<\/li>\n
  6. Never interrupt.<\/li>\n
  7. Ask follow-up questions.<\/li>\n
  8. Listen as much as (or more than) speaking.<\/li>\n
  9. Demonstrate listening.<\/li>\n
  10. Be patient.<\/li>\n
  11. Listen to learn.<\/li>\n
  12. Be interested in what the speaker is interested in.<\/li>\n
  13. Summarize what has been heard.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Identifying what a Bad Listener looks like helps avoid such behavior and consequentially move us on the path to becoming a Good Listener.\u00a0 Bad listeners may be categorized into the following 6 types:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The Opinionator<\/li>\n
    2. The Grouch<\/li>\n
    3. The Preambler<\/li>\n
    4. The Perseverator<\/li>\n
    5. The Answer Man<\/li>\n
    6. The Pretender<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The same person can display these behaviors at different times and under different circumstances.\u00a0 Perfecting listening skills means learning what prevents us from seeking and hearing the information we need.<\/p>\n

      Interested in learning more about the critical behaviors and actions of Good Listeners, and 6 Types of Bad Listeners?\u00a0 You can download an editable PowerPoint on Soft Skills: Good Listening<\/strong> here<\/a> on the Flevy documents marketplace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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      \u2013 Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Humans instinctively want to share their experiences.\u00a0 The more experienced a person, the fuller they are with ideas. Many people view Listening Skills to be of lesser consequence than articulation and focus on learning how they can present their own views more effectively. Good listening\u2014the keen and orderly pursuit of probing and challenging the information… 3 Critical Behaviors of Good Listeners<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":9038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[2482,2470,2476,2473,2474,2472,2479,1417,2471,2469,2478,2481,2480,2483,2477,2475,1158,1995],"class_list":["post-9031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-communications","tag-answer-man","tag-articulation","tag-challenge-assumptions","tag-client-management","tag-demonstrate-respect","tag-good-listening","tag-grouch","tag-leadership-development","tag-listening","tag-listening-skills","tag-opinionator","tag-perseverator","tag-preambler","tag-pretender","tag-problem-solving-mindset","tag-remain-quiet","tag-soft-skills","tag-team-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9031"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9649,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031\/revisions\/9649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}